Alessandro, Francesca, Giancarlo, and Letizia chose to visit Southeast Asia for their holiday. They worked hard all year long to save enough money for this vacation. The four friends live in Pisa, Tuscany. They work at the University of Pisa. It is a well-known university. Among its notable alumni, you can find Galileo Galilei, Cesare Borgia, Pope Clement XII, Andrea Bocelli, Former Prime Ministers: Giuliano Amato, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, and Massimo D'Alema, President: Giovanni Gronchi, Nobel Prize: Carlo Rubbia (Physics 1984), writers, film directors, mathematicians, physicians, journalists, politicians, etc.
the four friends are members of the university faculty. They are professors. Alessandro teaches and researches in the astrophysics department. Francesca and Letizia teach and research in the Astronomy Department. Giancarlo teaches and researches in the Neuroscience Department.
The prices in Thailand were much cheaper than in the Caribbean and they saw on the internet that the beaches were as beautiful as the ones in the Caribbean. They searched on the internet for cheap plane tickets to Bangkok, and from Bangkok to a Thailand island. They also looked for hotels and booked a suite room with two bedrooms. Letizia bought a Tourist Guide to Thailand on Amazon on the internet. Upon receiving it, he marked all the interesting places they could visit.
They were so excited that they packed as soon as they decided their destination. They packed their clothes, a few books, mosquito repellents, and sunblock. They were ready for their adventure in this exotic destination. They just needed to wait for a week for their holiday to officially start.
On Friday they took the train from Pisa to Rome early in the morning. Then they took a taxi to Rome Fiumicino "Leonardo Da Vinci" Airport to take their plane to Bangkok. They arrived at the airport 3 hours before the flight, did the check-in, and dispatched their luggage. They were anxious, they checked their flight tickets and passports. They talked about all the places they would visit. They sat in a little café where they looked at the Tourist Guide while they waited for their flight.
Time passed and it was time to board the plane, the four friends got onto the plane and sat in their seats. It was a long flight. Very uncomfortable. They bought tickets in the economic area of the plane. The seats were placed closed, not leaving much space between the lines. They could stretch their legs properly. The estimated flight time was 13 hours 25 minutes. They tried to sleep as much as they could to forget that the place was not comfortable and it was very crowded.
The flight was a real nightmare. It was long and uncomfortable. The economic class was crowded, it lacked space between seats. The food was awful. Many babies were crying. The service was good but slow. There weren't enough flight attendants for that large amount of passengers.
When they arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok Thailand, they were physically exhausted. Letizia had downloaded an app that translated your language into another one. With the aid of this app, they went through customs and migrations. The migration officers gave them a brochure with tips to have a safe trip and avoid being scammed by delinquents. Letizia took it and read it carefully. Then they left their luggage in a locker at the airport and left. They took a bus and went to the city where they had booked two rooms at a hostel for two nights. They only carried a backpack with few clothes.
They spend the first day visiting some temples and local markets. They took a two-hour canal longtail boat ride through the Bangkok canals. They could see the beautiful side of Bangkok with an English tourist guide. They set sails along the canals of the Chao Phraya River in a traditional longtail boat and enjoyed a glimpse of the local life in the Thomburi of Bangkok and visited the Baan Silapin (The Artist's House) and Wat Paknam Phasi Charoen (Where the biggest Buddha Statue is 70m and its Temple), learned about Thai culture, and explored the local neighborhoods.
The Baan Silapin was a hidden gem devoted to preserving Thai culture. It was a wooden house, over 200 years old, and restored by its owners, sat at the center of a small community of rustic shophouses connected by a wooden walkway that followed the edge of the canal.
They bought some souvenirs and had dinner. On the second day, they left the hostel, went to a museum and after lunch, they went to Suvarnabhumi Airport where they got their luggage from the locker. They left the souvenirs and the clothes they wouldn't use on the island, the plane tickets back to Italy, and their Italian documents. Letizia was very strict about this. Her friends were not very pleased with Letizia's paranoid preventive security measures. He had even forced them to bring their old mobile phones and leave the new ones in Italy.
They took a domestic flight to Surat Thani Airport. From there they took 5h 12 min bus to Railay Beach. They ate something and took a ferry to Koh Yao Noi, the trip by ferry took 45 minutes. Once they arrived in Koh Yao Noi they sailed for 27 minutes by a small ship to Khao Phing Kan. It was a long trip but the place was worth it. It was paradise on earth. It was marvelous. The water was light emerald, the beaches were clean, the local people were very friendly, and the lodging was 5-star.
Khao Phing Kan was located in one of the most spectacular marine parks in Thailand, it features cliffs of enormous limestone rocks overlooking the sea.
Originally known as Khao Phing Kan, this island sat quietly as an indigenous area in Thailand before it rose to fame. Its English name, James Bond Island, came after its selection for the famous James Bond franchise film, “The Man with The Golden Gun” Alessandro was a fan of Bondthat's why they chose that island.